All Time Favorite

I’ve noticed that amongst the other modern age bloggers they seem to focus only on the present or future of the video gaming industry. I realized that a lot of the past is overlooked or completely forgotten. In an ever-changing medium, I can see why forgetting the old and moving onto the new and exciting is important for business, but what about the consumer? Great, timeless games have been made in the past that these younger kids buying the newest will never get the opportunity to play. Because of this, I’ve decided to mention a game that some of you will remember, and some of you have never heard of. Kingdom Hearts is a game created by Square Enix and Disney focusing on the combination of all Disney characters and all Final Fantasy characters. Unlike most mash-up games, this game has a unique plot that almost makes you forget the game’s usage of non-original characters. This game was the first game I ever played as a youth that made me truly take interest in the day to day news of video games. It offers a very fast-paced, yet creative story that is able to draw comparisons between Donald Duck and Cloud Strife, the main protagonist from Final Fantasy VII. The game is played through the eyes of one character, Sora, as he attempts to find his friends Riku and Kairi after their world was destroyed by an unknown force. Only after meeting several characters from the Disney and Square Enix franchises does Sora realize that something is destroying and stealing the “Heart” of every single world. Accompanied by Donald Duck and Goofy, Sora travels across the galaxy visiting many of the Disney worlds many are familiar with, such as Tarzan’s Jungle, Agrabah, and Neverland. A complete game will take up about thirty hours of your time, but each hour is well spent under the name of fun. Another great aspect of buying old games is that they won’t cost you as much. Buying a decent quality version of Kingdom Hearts will only cost you about $10, less than a sixth the price of a modern day game. However, don’t just go back to old games to play Kingdom Hearts, immerse yourself with the relics of our short but fruitful gaming generation. A proper gaming background is necessary to truly enjoy how far technology has come in the past few decades and only gives hope and inspiration to what wonders wait to be unraveled in years to come.

Greatest Game of 2010?

Friends, Gamers, Countrymen, Lend me your ears. I hereby will relay to you my thoughts on Final Fantasy XIII. But seriously guys, this game was spectacular. I’ve finally been able to finish this masterpiece of a game. The game begins with each character in a different location, even though they all have the same individual mission of destroying the Fal’Cie, a sentient class of being that governs power over the humans. It is only after they meet up with one another and are given special powers that they are able to truly amount to something. As the game progress, it takes you through a long and treacherous journey filled with deception, loss, and incredibly complex battles. I won’t spoil any of the story for you all, because a game like this is made to be experienced first hand. However, I will tell you a few things about the game design. The game is divided into two main parts: Battle Mode and Exploration Mode. Battle Mode of course entails all minion and boss battles, while Exploration Mode includes basically every other aspect of the game. In Exploration Mode, you can only be brought into battles when making contact with an enemy unit on the playing field. For those who prefer to avoid fruitless battles, proper evasion maneuvers go an incredibly long way in this game. The battles usually last anywhere from a few seconds to lengths exceeding over twenty minutes. After each battle ends, the characters present in the battle are rewarded with experience points, which they can invest in their own abilities to improve their strengths on the battlefield incredibly. Obviously, those who prefer to skip battles will end up with a disadvantage at the end of the game because their characters will not be as trained. As for myself, I entered Battle Mode whenever I found it possible, making my characters unbelievably strong. The main tactics in battle are to take control of one of your three characters on the battlefield, and command your allies to help you destroy your enemies through various strategies. The strengths and weaknesses of each individual enemy differ greatly, forcing the player to change up the strategy on the battlefield quite often. I believe this was by far the most entertaining aspect of the game. One other thing I must mention about this particular game is the very evident effort put into the visuals. This game is unbelievably beautiful, a work of art. I think it is possibly the most visually brilliant game I have ever played. I would definitely recommend that any type of gamer venture out and pay the money to take home this masterpiece of a game.

Next Installment of Final Fantasy

Hey guys! I just want to say I’ve finally started playing the legendary new installment of Square Enix’s Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy XIII. I know the game has been out for a few months now, but I’ve actually only managed to get myself halfway through it at this point. I know what you’re thinking guys, something along the lines of “Wow, I thought this guy was supposed to be really good at games.” However, I must say that this game is HUGE. I’ve put in about 30 hours of my time, enough hours for about 3 normal games, and I’ve only managed to get about halfway through the story. For some of you that might seem a little intimidating, but I can’t really express in words how incredibly entertaining this game is. A wonderful plot guides a very simple yet addictive gameplay style. If I had to associate this game with anything, I would say it is more or less like an ongoing Hollywood movie, yet it never ends! I’d love to continue writing about the other great qualities of this game, but I’ve still got around half of the story left. Look out for the full review once I can find enough time to finish the game.

Both Games Down

Great news guys! I’ve put in some solid hours and finally finished Dante'’s Inferno and Drake’s Uncharted 2. First off, if I had to recommend one over the other, I would definitely pick Drake’s. It capitalizes in so many ways that modern games fail at today. It is packed with a brilliant story, cinematic action, and truly spectacular gameplay. As I continued to dig further and further into the story, I became even more fascinated with the game. I think the best way I can describe it is that the game felt as if I were taking an active role in a Hollywood movie. I won'’t spoil too much for those of you who have yet to play the game, but the main plot is filled with mythological and historical lore, unexpected and truly painful betrayals, and a dramatic romance that makes Uncharted 2 one of the best games I’'ve had the opportunity to play in years. Now then, for the second game I’ve been devoting a similar chunk of time towards, Dante’s Inferno, I must say… I wasn’t extremely impressed but i still had a great time playing through the campaign. I will admit that the novel itself is one of my favorite journey stories and I was truly excited about the opportunity to play through one of my favorite narrations as a video game. The game stuck mostly to the epic but with minor changes. As for the gameplay, I believe Visceral Games lacked individuality. As a gamer with a long, long history of video game support, I found the gameplay to be eerily similar to older games, such as God of War and Devil May Cry. Obviously, game style will tend to overlap between titles of similar genre, much like how there isn’t just one western movie in Hollywood. However, it almost feels like Visceral Games took the explosive action and gameplay basics from God of War and simply copy-and-pasted them directly into their own game program. I can't bash Visceral Gmaes too much but Dante's Inferno provided nothing new to the gaming scene but a game worth a rent if you have time.

Dante's Inferno Demo Play/Preview

I started Uncharted 2 today and put a solid 4-5 hours in. The game starts off with Nathan stranded on a train that has crashed somewhere in the arctic. You later find out this is present day and the main storyline of the game will be played in the past. The main storyline follows much of the same set up from the first game with an old friend coming out of nowhere to send you on your adventure. The ancient explorer whose steps you will be tracing this time is Marco Polo. The game takes a while to get going but that’s nothing unusual. After introducing you to the controls Uncharted 2 really picks up and you find out very quickly that this game is going to own. Those that played the original will quickly pick on the flow of the game as no major changes were issued. The only minor differences I’ve noticed so far are more cut scenes and the area levels seem to be a bit broader. It also seems like the game rewards you more for be stealthy rather than just “ramboing” it up. By taking out your enemies in a quiet organized fashion Drake is able to make it through levels with faster and with far less gun fights. I like this change because it adds an entirely new game mechanic that instantly upgraded an already great game. Now Uncharted appeals to two different types of gamers the stealth fanatic and the BOOM HEADSHOT obsessed first person shooter fans. It also seems the developers put a lot of time into building the story and it has definitely paid off. Uncharted 2 is also a treat to look at and I would say this is a massive understatement. This is imo the best looking game on the market and will be probably until Final Fantasy XIII comes out. I also got Dante’s Inferno from gamefly today and will be put some hours into that in the near future. For those who don’t know, Dante’s Inferno is based on the epic poem the Divine Comedy which explores the 9 circles of hell. I’ll leave a preview video or demo video up for those who want to see more.

PC Games - E3 2010 - Dante's Inferno

G4's Feedback on Uncharted 2

After watching this episode of G4’s Feedback I am even more excited about playing Uncharted 2. The original Uncharted was an instant PS3 classic and made Nathan Drake’s next adventure highly anticipated. For those that didn’t play the original I highly recommend it. Uncharted Drake’s Fortune was probably my second favorite PS3 game behind only Metal Gear Solid 4. The game mechanics are set up a lot like the Tombraider franchise but with some minor differences. Both games take on epic archeological adventures they often lead to mass puzzles and shooting up some bad guys. However, Tombraider for the most part has significantly more puzzles and less shooting than Uncharted. Rumors have even spread that Nathan and Lara might even team up for a game in the future which would be nothing short of awesome. I can tell Uncharted 2 is absolutely gorgeous just by looking at some the clips and many have said it even looks better than Killzone 2 graphic wise. Uncharted 2 has some very beautiful levels ranging from Turkish cities to jungle to even the arctic mountains of Nepal. However, not only are the levels beautiful but the human models in Uncharted 2 look flawless. While play through fighting scenes and doing puzzles it easy to get caught up in the beauty of the game. Another item that stood out to me during the interview was how much work was spent on voice acting and the story. Story plays a very significant part in games for me and sometimes can even make or break a game. Depending on the game I would even argue that story is just as important to a game as gameply. I have even continued to play games just to complete the story even though the gameplay wasn’t close to perfect. An example of game which lacked great gameplay but had a great story in my mind was Too Human. This game took place in the realm of Norse Mythology and I felt like I had to complete the game to see the story unfold. Uncharted 2 shouldn’t have to worry about any gameplay or storyline problems since it seems they are just building on the strong foundation they set up in first game.

PS3 Games - E3 2010 - Uncharted 2: Among Thieves